Pregnancy registries

1. For ethical reasons, it is not possible to do many kinds of research in a pregnant woman.

2. To identify risks that occur in a small proportion of those who take a medication during pregnancy, we need data on large numbers of pregnant women who were exposed.

One way that is being used to work on these problems is the creation of patient registries in which patients who are taking a medication during pregnancy can voluntarily register.

Pregnancy registries

We, as prescribing mental health clinicians, should encourage all women who become pregnant while taking a mood stabilizer that is an antiepileptic to participate in registries for such patients. These registries also include pregnant women who take an antiepileptic medication for epilepsy or for pain.

For the United States and Canada, patients may be referred to the North American Antiepileptic Drug Pregnancy Registry (http://www.aedpregnancyregistry.org/), which is run by Harvard Medical School. The time commitment for participation is minimal.

Registries in other countries for women who become pregnant while taking an antiepileptic drug or take one during pregnancy include:

Online resources for women who become pregnant while on a psychotropic medication

References

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